People who consume alcohol sinners, not Indians: Nitish Kumar as Bihar Assembly clears bill to amend prohibition law
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday rallied against alcohol consumers, calling them ‘mahapaapi’ (great sinners) even as the state assembly introduced and passed the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill 2020 that seeks to make the liquor ban less stringent for first-time offenders in the state.
“If they don’t abide by the ideals of the Father of the Nation, baapu (Mahatma Gandhi), then I don’t consider them as Indians. Those who don’t listen to baapu are ‘mahapaapi’ and ‘mahaayogya’,” Kumar said in the Assembly.
Citing a survey conducted by his government in 2018, Kumar said that 1 crore 74 lakh people in Bihar stopped drinking alcohol. He stated that states don’t ban alcohol because of the income produced by it, but “if someone, who wastes money on alcohol, stops drinking, he will use that money to feed his house”.
He also said that if someone goes to consume alcohol, he is to be blamed for his actions.
After the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2022, gets the governor’s approval, first-time offenders will get bail from the duty magistrate after depositing a fine. However, if the person fails to pay it, he or she is liable to face a one-month jail term. The government has not divulged the amount of the fine to be imposed on first-time offenders.
As per the amendment bill, moveable and immoveable assets of arrested liquor traders would be confiscated while frequent drinkers would be fined as well as imprisoned. Vehicles used for the liquor trade would also be confiscated and will be later auctioned.
The amendments to the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, have been proposed in light of the observations made by the Supreme Court earlier that the law was enacted without considering its practical ramifications on the courts in Bihar which have been clogged with liquor law cases.
The chief minister has come under attack from both alliance partner BJP and opposition RJD following hooch tragedies in the state that claimed more than 60 lives in the last six months of 2021. Around Diwali last year, the state was rattled by hooch tragedies in a number of districts that claimed more than 40 lives.